Vascular plants in Svalbard

This web site is dedicated to Svalbards flora of vascular plants. So far we know of 184 species native to the archipelago. As Svalbard was totally ice-covered during the Weichselian ice age which ended around 10 000 years ago, almost all the species has migrated to Svalbard rather recently. Genetic research shows that the Svalbard-species have ancestors both in Greenland, America and Russia; hence, there are amphi atlantic, circumpolar and eurasiatic representatives, making up a diverse and interesting flora. A very few recent endemisms have also occurred.

Our goal is to present these species to you in beautiful and informative pictures and detailed texts representing the newest information available.

The Svalbard archipelago comprises a lot of small islands and a few larger ones, the biggest being Spitsbergen (which also is an older name for the entire archipelago). The strong and warm North Atlantic current reaches all the way to Svalbard creating a surprisingly favourable climate along the west coast and the less oceanic interior parts of Spitsbergen, the latitude taken into account. The eastern and northern parts are significantly harsher and icy. However, the climatic gradients and a variety of different bedrocks create a large diversity of habitats, something that is reflected in Svalbards intriguing flora.

The font-size in Microsoft Internet Explorer will be be fixed during spring. At the moment we focus on getting the species published.